Awe and Chocolate
by Someone aka Me
Summary: "Their first ever Hogsmeade visit, they're thirteen and naïve and innocent–well, not innocent really, but as innocent as the Marauders ever were." Remus and Sirius's first Hogsmeade visit. No pairings.Fluff. Won Runner up in Your Favorite Character Comp!


For the "Your Favorite Character" Competition by a-trip-to-honeydukes on Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges.

Prompt: First Hogsmeade visit, silent

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"_Awe and Chocolate"_

Their first ever Hogsmeade visit, they're thirteen and naïve and innocent – well, not innocent really, but as innocent as the Marauders ever were. Clearly this is not very innocent at all, given that it's only Remus and Sirius because James and Peter are both in detention. All of them participated in the prank, but Remus has an uncanny knack for talking his way out of things, and Sirius runs much faster than James or Peter.

Somehow, Sirius doesn't mind that it's just them.

True, James is his best friend. There's no doubt about that. Sirius and James, they play off each other, each bringing out the mischievous characteristics of the other. With James, Sirius feels like he's riding a perpetual natural high. He feels like he's on top of the world, like he could do absolutely anything.

When it's all four of them, too, that's exhilarating. They all interact in such a way that makes everything so much better than any of them alone.

Still, when it's all of them, and to a certain extent when it's just Sirius and James, he feels a bit like he's grandstanding. He feels like he's putting up a front, trying to be cooler, more unconcerned, more of a laugh-it-off type of person. And with Remus, just Remus, Sirius doesn't feel like he has to do that, because Remus honestly doesn't care. If anything, Sirius thinks, Remus would rather he not put up any front at all – Remus likes the honest Sirius better.

Because of that, Sirius feels completely comfortable handing his permission slip (which his father actually signed, thank Merlin, because he almost didn't) to Professor McGonagall and walking out the doors with Remus by his side.

Sirius has been to all-wizarding towns before – his family travels quite a bit – so while this is a little different, him being without his parents, he doesn't expect it to be extremely remarkable. What he'd forgotten, though, or perhaps just not realized, is that Remus has never been to an all-wizarding town. Remus's family has travelled a bit as well, but they tend to Floo directly into and out of the Hospitals as a part of his mother's relentless (and fruitless, though Remus won't tell her that) attempt to find a cure, and they've never actually explored the surrounding towns.

Watching Remus walk down the main street, absolutely silent with awe, makes Sirius grin.

"Where d'you want to go first?" Sirius asks cheerfully.

Remus just shakes his head, because he doesn't care. Anywhere. Everywhere. He wants to see it all.

"All right," Sirius grins again. "Normally, I'd say that in true Marauderly spirit, we have to hit Zonko's Joke Shop first, but there's a place I think you'll like better." He smirks, and normally that would worry Remus, but he's too busy gaping.

Remus nods in agreement with Sirius's plan. He still hasn't uttered a word – he's absorbing everything, just taking it all in.

They walk a short way, then Sirius covers Remus's eyes with his hands.

"I think this one should be a surprise," he explains. He leads Remus carefully inside the shop.

The very moment they enter the door, Remus sighs in pleasure at the heavenly scent.

"Welcome," Sirius says dramatically, "to Honeydukes sweet shop." He removes his hands with a flourish.

Remus's jaw quite literally drops. He blinks. Then he pinches himself. Then he turns to Sirius and asks, "Why'd you kill me?"

"What?" Sirius laughs at the random question, and the fact that they are the first words Remus has said since they started this trip.

"Well, I'm obviously dead," Remus states simply. "Because places this amazing don't exist on Earth."

Sirius laughs again. "I haven't killed you, Rem, and it's real. Trust me on this one."

Remus gazes around the store, his mouth open. He seems to have lost all concern for what he looks like to anyone else, which makes Sirius smile because Remus is normally so serious and composed. Right now, though, he's acting like… Well, like a kid in a candy store, which Sirius supposes makes quite a bit of sense.

"This is incredible," Remus murmurs. Suddenly, his eyes go wide as saucers. "Oh. My. Gosh." Sirius follows his gaze and smirks, quite amused. Remus is staring at Honeydukes' famous 2.5 kilogram chocolate bar like it's the greatest thing he's ever seen.

Sirius walks over to the display, pulls one off the wall like it's nothing, and walks to the counter. Remus seems frozen in place, but his gaze follows Sirius as he nonchalantly purchases the largest chocolate bar Remus has ever seen.

"I'll carry it," he says when he returns, because he knows that Remus is still a little shaky – the full moon was only three nights ago – and the thing weighs quite a lot, obviously. "But it's yours," Sirius finishes.

Remus can't help but protest. "Sirius, I can't-"

"What you can and can't do isn't the issue. I can, and I did," he says firmly, and that's that.

Remus ducks his head. "Thank you."

"It's nothing," Sirius assures him, shaking his head. But it's not nothing, it's something, and both of them are well aware of that.

They wander around the rest of Hogsmeade absently, but nothing compares to Honeydukes. They see Zonko's (where Sirius walks out with considerably fuller hands and considerably lighter pockets), the Three Broomsticks, Dervish and Bangs, the Post Office, and even the Hog's Head, though they don't stay there for long. The only place they avoid is the Shrieking Shack – neither of them has any desire whatsoever to go there, not even once.

All in all, it's pretty much a perfect day. Actually, it's pretty much a perfect couple months, because that's how long the chocolate lasts (which is quite impressive, given that they live in a dorm with four teen boys). It sets a precedent, though – likely because it's the first time Sirius realizes just how much Remus likes chocolate – and from that point on, the Marauders _always_ have chocolate in their dorm.


End file.
